See article from Herald and News, Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Klamath Falls, OR - A 3-0 win over Simpson in Oregon Tech's home opener was nice.
The Hustlin' Owls, however, know they will need to play better if they hope to win when Cascade Collegiate Conference action begins this weekend.
"We need to work on our starts, but we're pretty good at finishing," Mikayla Morgan said after she and teammate Megan Christensen made their final home debut at Danny Miles Court Wednesday.
"We're still figuring out how to play together, and a new system."
OIT fell behind in all three games of Wednesday's match, and needed serious comebacks in both the first two games as the Hustlin' Owls upped their season record to 7-4. OIT now is 6-2 against teams from the California Pacific Conference.
"It's exciting to play at home, but we're not satisfied with the way we played," Christensen said. "We're glad to win in three, but we didn't perform very well."
OIT found itself in a 15-6 hole in the first game before coming back to win, 25-21.
In the second game, Simpson, which fell to 0-5 on the season, took an 8-2 lead before the Hustlin' Owls came back to win, 25-23, but needed five game points to win after taking their largest lead in any of the games, 25-19.
Once ahead, 10-8, in the third game, OIT held the lead and eventually claimed a 25-20 win.
"We didn't play to our potential, but we played well enough to get through," Morgan said.
Morgan had a team-high seven kills, while Christensen, Jennifer Saltenberger and Mindy Rencher all had six. Kristen Walters had four kills, two of which gave OIT its first lead in the first two games.
Sarah Svedin had 19 assists and seven digs, Hannah Brewster 19 digs, Marie Baumann 11 digs and Rencher four assisted blocks.
For Simpson, Liz Huntsman from Klamath Union High, had one of her team's eight aces.
"We'll be ready for this weekend," Christensen said.
The Hustlin' Owls begin conference action and play Friday at Concordia and Saturday at Warner Pacific in a pair of 7 p.m. matches in Portland.
